Why I Do What I Do

From the outside, I focus on helping businesses with LMIA applications so they can bring foreign talent to Canada to give a more long term solution to their immediate need for employees. However, the real reason I do this is because....

What’s worse than having a hard earned engineering degree, being granted PR based on your high education and English credentials, coming to Canada as a PR, only to not be able to find work in your field because you don't have "Canadian Experience" or need to jump through many more hoops than you initially though to get licensed, and in a panic to pay high bills, end up working as an Uber driver. Worse than that ... your parents struggled to put you through medical school back home, then you put your name into the Express Entry pool of candidates for PR, get an Invitation to Apply because of your medical background, come to Canada, and discover you just missed the registration deadline to apply for your license to practice medicine and will have to wait another 6 months for the next intake. In the meantime, rent, groceries, and bus fare are eating away at your settlement money, and you need to get a job as soon as possible. Your friend lets you know Walmart across the street is hiring. Canada is in a labour shortage, but not for taxi drivers and cashiers. Canada needs workers in the construction, health, hospitality and other skilled industries. How can Canada bring in immigrants in a system that does not end up in brilliant aeronautical engineers, experienced nurses, and engineers wasting away in low skilled occupations? How can immigrants prevent their education and work experience that earned them an Invitation to Apply for PR in Canada from being wasted when they finally come to Canada. These all too familiar stories BREAK my heart.

This taxi driver was a construction project manager before he came to Canada

This is why I partner with employers and recruiting agencies who want to hire foreign workers through LMIA supported jobs, to bring immigrants to Canada with A JOB IN HAND, a job they are qualified for. When a Canadian company cannot find the talent and experience in local applicants, they can apply to the Ministry of Employment and Social Development Canada for the "go ahead" to hire a foreign worker through an LMIA application. I help businesses with all the LMIA paperwork to hire foreign workers, and once the LMIA is granted, I help the foreign worker apply for a work permit.

LMIA backed Temporary Foreign Worker working as a hotel front desk attendant in Canada

Often, companies that are hiring these high-wage workers, support them in obtaining PR. After a year of working in Canada, the foreign worker is eligible to set up an EE profile, and when they are granted the Invitation to Apply, and receive PR, they have already been at their job for 2 years. Spouses of foreign workers in a TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 job are eligible to apply for an open work permit, and their children can attend public schools in Canada. It’s a win-win situation. When I became an RCIC, I was excited to bring people to Canada. The more I read potential applicants' profiles, saw their prestigious achievements and credentials, I was humbled. When they were granted PR, I was happy, and thought I was doing good work bringing people to Canada. But, every time I took an Uber, or struck up a conversation with the gas station or fast food restaurant attendant, my heart sank when I learnt that they are working at jobs they are much too qualified for. I wish they had an LMIA BACKED JOB IN HAND before they landed. Business owners/HR in hospitality, health and construction, reach out to start a conversation on how LMIAs may be your long term solution to labour shortages.